Why the UK Apprentice is SO Much Better than the US One

I've been getting over a cold, which means lots of movies and tv binge watching. While down the rabbit hole of YouTube I caught an episode of The Apprentice UK.

In the name of Batman, I'm in love.

OK, look, I like reality shows. Not really the "reality" shows where real fashion star wives of teen moms do stuff. But the competition shows. I love The Amazing Race. I adore MasterChef. And I even sort of like The Apprentice.

But my liking of the US Apprentice turns to love when talking about the UK counterpart (which just finished up its 9th Series). Here's why:

Better Boss

Donald "The Donald" Trump is easily the most annoying thing about The Apprentice US. He is smarmy, he talks down to everyone, his advisers consist of his talentless children, and he is a fraud. The fact that Donald Trump is a success story only shows how the current system favors the already wealthy over new innovators. The man has filed for bankruptcy four times, used courts to bully people who dare to cross him, and even responded to a lawsuit against his shady Trump University by suing the woman who brought the claim.

(In fact, daring to state that Donald Trump is a tool could result in being sued or at least targeted in one of Trump's twitter wars. But since I am a poor law student with a blog that nobody reads, either of those things are not really a worry for me. Characterizing him as smarmy, that his children are talentless, and his status as a fraud are opinions protected by the 1st Amendment. The other allegations are repeating facts culled from other sources or stating my own opinion on those facts. Also, I'm supposed to get legal clinic hours before graduation so I guess handling my own suit against Trump would count.)

Donald Trump is the worst part of The Apprentice. So by replacing him with British tycoon Lord Alan Sugar the show is already better than the Yankee version. Lord Sugar is a self made man who started out selling electronics out of a van, moved on to computers and technology, and is now just plain hella rich. He's connected to the Labour Party and an advisor of the British Government on matter of business.

But he also isn't a pushover. He's strict but funny. He's everything that The Donald isn't.

Better Advisors

In Apprentice US, Trump has previous winners, his children, or other associates go check in on the team to report back to him. The problem is that there is so much stuff that happens when they aren't there watching the final product that never make their way back to Trump. As a result, someone can make a terrible mistake but never be called out for it because it is only seen by the cameras and the viewer at home.

Apprentice UK sends out one of Lord Sugar's associates to follow each team for the entire time the challenge is going on. They offer commentary to the audience about mistakes they are seeing and report back problems to Lord Sugar. As a result, there are fewer wrong firings on Apprentice UK. It also means that the other people in the boardroom can do more than give the vapid commentary that the Trump children do when they are asked to sit in on Apprentice US.

As this clip shows, these guys know what happened because they were there!

No Product Placement

While an episode of Apprentice US seems like an infomercial for whatever product they are pitching that week (Office Depot! Walgreens! Trump's Wife Makeup Company!) the UK Apprentice can't use such blatant product placement since the BBC is a part of the government. In fact, the complaints against product placement on UK Apprentice has centered on lingering shots of cell phones. Which seems an adorable complaint next to what goes on during an episode of Apprentice US.

More Realistic Contestants

The candidates on US Apprentice seem hyper aware of the nature of reality fame. After all, Omarosa is still living off the reputation she got from her appearance on the show. Meanwhile, the cast of each Apprentice UK seem to not actually realize that they are on television or that people will hear the shit they are saying. This results in some amazingly crazy moments that would not happen in the more savvy US version.

Also, they can say shit. Sometimes you just need to say shit.

The Apprentice UK is pretty much all available on YouTube. Find a playlist for each season and enjoy your Trumpless Reality Television Gold.